Breathe
by ArianaBieburr
Summary: When Beck and Jade break up, Jade takes it extra hard. I'm no good at summaries.
1. Chapter One

Chapter One.

She sat at the lunch table, isolated from the rest of the group. She'd never felt so alone in a crowded place. People were gathering around the table as Tori Vega showed them her sparkly, new engagement ring. Jade rested her head in her hand and looked at Cat, her bestfriend.  
"Jade," she could see the tears forming in Jade's eyes but knew she couldn't stop them from falling. She leant towards her and whispered in her ear, "don't let her win." Within a short amount of time the tears had faded and were long out of sight, but the crowds were still there.  
"Can we go?" Caterina nodded, grabbing her fluffy backpack.  
"Where to?" She asked, but Jade didn't answer, she just stared at her feet as they brushed against the concrete. It was obvious he was on her mind. "Forget him."  
"I can't." Her voice cracked. She tried to disguise it by clearing her throat and coughing but Cat knew her too well. The drops fell from her eyes, racing down her cheeks and she didn't think they'd stop, again.

"Beck! Stop!" She screamed as she floated over the pool in his arms, her bikini bone dry.  
"No, you're going in whether you like it or not!" The glimmer in his eyes contained feelings indescribable, pure love and happiness with a hint of underlying pain. This was the first time he'd seen her smile since her mother died, she'd swore she'd never smile again and he'd believed her, the way she acted for the past week, she had cried for hours on end and he was the shoulder for her to cry on. Finally, he threw her into the icy water, but at the last minute she grabbed his arm and pulled him in after her. Moments later, they were both underwater, swimming side by side. They swam to the top, gasping for air.  
"I love you." Beck smiled, looking deeply into her eyes. She didn't know how much those words affected her, especially coming from his mouth.  
"I love you too." And their lips were pressed together.

Jade slammed her back down against the wall of the bathroom, desperately trying to keep herself together. Walking over to the sink, she wiped underneath her eyes where her mascara had ran dramatically. She tried hopelessly not to fall apart staring herself directly into her eyes through the mirror. It was almost weird in a way how he could make her feel so worthless and unwanted by putting a ring on his girlfriend's finger. The door burst open and Jade ran for the cubicle.  
"Jade?" Andre's voice soothed, "you're in the boys toilets, you know," she didn't reply, "come out here, it's only me." She cautiously opened the door and walked towards him.  
"Sh-sugar dumplings." She stuttered, Andre didn't like swearing.  
"Jade. Are you alright?" Her stained cheeks were bright red now, her eyes puffy and irritated.  
"Do I look it?!" She snapped, throwing her arms into the air, frustrated.  
"Sorry." She rushed straight past him but just as her hand began to wrap around the door handle, he mumbled,  
"You miss him, don't you?" The tears streamed again as she turned around to face Andre. She nodded. Then, suddenly, he opened his arms, welcoming her embrace. Hesitating, she walked towards him before resting her head on his shoulder and weeping until the tears stopped.  
"Don't tell anyone about this."  
"Which part?"  
"All of it." She whispered, he nodded. There's a creak and the door opens. Beck. She forces her head deeper into the crook of his neck praying she can just disappear. No luck.  
"Jade?" Her eyes zip shut. "Jade." She has no choice but to turn around now. "Can we talk in private please?" He grabs her hand and pulls her towards the door and heads to the janitors closet.


	2. Chapter Two

Chapter Two.

"What do you want?" She sighed as he closed the door behind him. His fingers combed through his hair and her knees instantly turned to jelly. Trying not to be obvious, she attempted to disguise it but he had noticed.

"What's wrong with you?" He questioned, staring into her eyes. Truth was, she couldn't really figure out what was wrong with her lately, all she knew was since Beck and Tori got to together, there had been an ever-present rope around her heart, knotting tighter with each day and the engagement made it a whole lot worse.

"I don't really know, I guess I'm..." She snapped her mouth shut. She promised herself that she would never say the J word, especially when it was about herself.

"Jealous?" Bingo. She nodded. He knew her too well. She twirled a solitary curl of her brown hair around her finger, she'd gotten her green highlights taken out for the week for an audition she was doing on Friday and she still wasn't used to it.

"Stop it, Jade. We broke up months ago."

"But it didn't take long for you to get over us did it?" He shrugged, not really caring and her heart twanged a little.

"No, but it doesn't mean I didn't still love you. I'm with Tori now and you've got to accept that. I want us to be friends. Please?"

"Ok." He held out his arms for a hug and she caved. Once his warm arms were around her she felt at home, it was the first time he'd hugged her since the breakup but she had to be strong. For Beck. He was happy and she should be happy for him. She just had to suck it up and try.

_They were sat in the RV with all of their 'friends'. His arm wrapped around her waist, hers around his. They were watching a late night talk show. Boring to hell. There were three celebrities, desperate to make an impression, sat on a couch opposite the host. Two boys and one girl, all wearing pretty extravagant outfits, except for the girl who was just wearing denim jeans and a sparkly top. Beck was pretty silent, he hadn't said anything in a while, so she glanced at him and he was already staring at her._

_"What?" She mumbled and his lips slowly pressed against hers. Only for a moment, a split second, but long enough to make smiles appear on both of their faces._

_"Never leave me, Beck. Please." He nodded, his smile fading slightly as he noticed the pain on her face. He opened his mouth and leaned towards her ear, whispering._

_"Never."_

"I miss him, Cat." Jade said, fiddling with one of her cuddly toy's outfits, which she'd asked her to fix.

"Of course you do." She replied, glancing at the television, longingly.

"There's still no signal." She spoke. She thought back to when they were together, how she'd noticed all the little things changing, the way he spoke became slightly harsher day by day, the softness was disappearing gradually. The hugs became rare and the kisses even rarer. It came to the point when the barely even held each others hands or spoke and then came the argument.

_"Why do you hate me?" She screamed as loud as her lungs would let her. She locked her eyes shut so now more salty drops would escape._

_"I don't hate you, Jade."_

_"You never hug me, you never kiss me and nowadays we barely talk!" Her voice continued to crack and she paused to think about what she was doing. She was singlehandedly killing off everything that made her happy. She opened her eyes and looked directly into his, they were cold, completely dry, unlike hers. Was this the day it all finished? The last chapter in their book? Not if she could help it._

_"Do you remember when we went to the beach? When we paddled in the sea and a crab caught onto your foot and we wanted to get you a plaster from the shack at the top but we ended up just getting ice creams and watching the Sun go down?" She watched the cogs in his brain search through their memories until he nodded moments later. _

_"Yeah. Course I do. When I pushed the ice cream in your face and you put yours on my head? It was the best day of my life."_

_"Why?"_

_"Because it was the day I found out just how much I loved you." Tears slid from her eyes and down her cheeks. Spontaneously, they crashed together, her head on his shoulder, his hands around her waist and once again she was happy._

"I know, urgh. I'm going to have to ring the TV company. I'll do it in a bit." She whined. "So what are you going to do about Beck?" She honestly didn't know how to reply. She wasn't intending to be ignorant, but it ended up looking that way. She didn't care anymore anyways.

"I don't know, man, I guess I miss her." Beck held his phone against his ear, pacing backwards and forwards.

"You can't miss her, Beck, you're engaged to Tori or have you been asleep through your whole relationship?" He didn't know what to do, he missed Jade, but she was just trying to mess with his head, wasn't she? He had to set a date for the wedding and quickly.

"I've got to go, Andre, I've got a date to set."


	3. Chapter Three

Chapter Three.

_Jade looked through the stage wings, searching for him but he was nowhere to be found. The host walked onto the stage and her heart began to leap. His mouth was moving but Jade couldn't hear any sound. Her palms began to sweat and she began to bite her lip. 'Calm down, Jade, you can do this.' she told herself._

_"Please welcome to the stage, Jade West!" She carefully walked to the center of the stage and took hold of the microphone. Where was Beck? Frantically, her eyes searched the crowds. He definitely wasn't here. The song began to play but Jade couldn't remember the words. She was about to choke when she saw Cat in the audience with Robbie and Andre, mouthing the words before she was supposed to sing them. She nearly lost her dream, nearly crushed them in her own hands but they saved her and as the song played it's last notes and the applause faded, Jade smiled sadly and walked offstage, tears filling her eyes._

_"I'm sorry I didn't make it." He sighed, his apology as transparent as glass._

_"I'm sorry too."_

_"Why?"_

_"You do realize what happened tonight, right? If it wasn't for Cat, Andre and Robbie I would've choked. In front of everyone. I thought you loved me, the only reason I would've choked is because you weren't there. Whenever you're there, I calm down and my nerves subside, but you weren't there so the nerves got worse and I didn't believe I could do it. Where were you? What was so important that you had to miss something we'd been planning for months? You should've been there."_

_"I know, I'm sorry, please forgive me." His bulging, brown eyes stared into hers, piercing her soul. There was still something on her mind, who was he with?_

_"Who were you with and what were you doing?" Silence. "Oh my God." She finally realized where he'd been. "You were with...Tori." Her voice cracked. She pulled the remains of herself together, helpless. "Why, Beck?"_

_"I'm sorry." And that was the day he broke her. He was the only one who could ever hurt her in such a way, change her life completely, change her opinions, her mood and now the one who said he'd never ever hurt her had broken her. There was nothing else to say._

"Jade? You there? Earth to Planet Jade?" Andre clicked his fingers infront of Jade's eyes and she shook her head, shaking herself out of the memories. "What were you thinking about?"

"Nothing." She looked away, pulling her shirt down slightly. "Where is Sikowitz anyway?" She was beginning to get frustrated with the awkwardness of this conversation.

"Jade, what were you thinking about?!" He spoke a bit louder this time. "Tell me!"

"Ok, ok! Remember when I performed at the theater last year?"

"Yeah, and Beck didn't show?"

"Yeah. That." Andre looked at the floor and looked back up at her.

"Why were you thinking of that?" She didn't answer, too afraid of judgement. She had definitely changed in the past six months that was for sure. "You still like Beck." Andre nodded, taking in this information. "I can help you with that."

"No don't! I want him to be happy not heartbroken. Just leave it." Then, Andre's phone beeped.

**Beck : Date set for the wedding, June 25th.**

**Andre : But it's June 17th and you have nothing ready!**

**Beck : It'll be sorted. Jade, Cat, Trina = bridesmaids. Sinjin, Robbie, Rex = ushers. And you, if you want to be, the best man. All planned out.**

**Andre : But Jade? She can't be a bridesmaid.**

**Beck : Why?**

**Andre : She still loves you. She'll ruin the wedding you know what she's like.**

Jade could hear the phone beeping and vibrating repetitively and was getting extremely annoyed. She yanked the phone from his hands and read the texts before throwing it on the floor and running to wherever Beck could be. First stop, the RV.


	4. Chapter Four

Chapter Four.

When Jade arrived outside the RV, she noticed how much it meant to her and just how hard it would be to walk away from everything Beck had given her to remember. She clung onto her leather jacket, hoping it would stop her from falling into the black hole that would open and engulf her as soon as she stepped foot inside the mobile home. She strolled towards the RV, looking cool and casual on the outside but broken on the inside. KNOCK! Her knuckles tapped on the bulletproof window, impatiently.

"Coming!" A girls voice rang out, she knew that voice too well. It was Tori Vega. Had she moved in with him already? Lost in a train of thought, she didn't notice the door open until she was snapped out of her trance by the sound of Tori's whining.

"Jade! Hi! How are you?" She grinned, widely. It was all an act, everyone fell for it, they did all the time, but it was obvious to her what was going on. Tori was being nice to her so Jade wouldn't mind if she married Beck and well, it was pretty cunning, she had to admit. However, it was no match for Jade West.

"Great, you?" She smiled back, politely, which was odd for her, considering polite was never in anyone's vocabulary whilst describing Jade.

"Fabulous! So what's up?"

"I need to talk to Beck." Tori's smile immediately disappeared and her head tilted forwards, her eyeshadow glistening in the moonlight.

"Please don't take him from me, Jade." Well whatever Jade was expecting it wasn't that. Was Tori really so insecure? One thing was for certain, Jade had misjudged Tori entirely.

"What? Take him from you? He loves you, more than he ever loved me." She shook her head and mouthed the words 'I wish'. That was the moment she knew that she had the upper hand, she could change this for the better, if she wanted to.

"Where's Beck?"

"In here." She motioned Jade into the RV and began to show her around but didn't get very far due to an interruption from Jade.

"I know where everything is. I lived here for four years."

"Oh, yeah, I'll go into the kitchen and you just talk to Beck about whatever. Just remember what I said. Please." Jade placed her hands on Tori's shoulders and shook her vigorously.

"Vega, I'm not going to take Beck." Tori nodded and sauntered into the kitchen.

When she walked into the living room, she saw Beck lay on the couch, THE couch. The couch where they'd had their first kiss, where they'd had movie nights, where they'd took pictures, watched TV and cuddled. It was the place Jade loved the most, besides in his arms. She waved at him, awkwardly, and whispered,

"Hey."

"Hi." She sat down next to him on the couch as far away as possible. "I'm not diseased, you know."

"I know." She spat, her words dripping with venom. Beck sighed.

"Why are you here?"

"I just wanted to say," She thought carefully about what she was going to say and or ask for. After deliberating with herself, she opened her mouth, ready to speak. "Congrats on setting the date, I wish you the best of luck and I hope I'm invited." She said, slightly malicious.

"Thank you Jade." She shrugged and walked out of the room.

"See you in school, I hope." And with that, Jade went home to scream into her pillow and throw darts at a picture of Tori's face.

Later that night, Jade received a phone call from Cat's Mother.

"Hi, Jade I've got some news, Cat has been admitted to hospital. They say she's losing her mind. Shes been feeling down lately and losing a lot of weight and well, she's got a major case of anorexia and symptoms of bipolar. You might wanna come down here. ' hospital, Ward E, room 16." Jade smashed her head into the steering wheel and sobbed. Her bestfriend was ill, very ill, and she was too selfish to notice. What had she done?


	5. Chapter Five

Chapter Five.

One week later, Cat had been discharged from hospital, fully recovered for now. She'd been diagnosed with bipolar and anorexia. It was the day for Beck and Tori's wedding and Jade was slipping into her dress.

"Jade!" Tori yelled.

"Yeah?"

"Can you pass me the concealer?" Jade rolled her eyes. Couldn't she get it herself? But she had to be nice to the bride, not just to be polite but to prove Andre wrong. She was not going to ruin this wedding.

"Sure, which one?"

"The second lightest, please." Jade handed her the concealer and turned to walk away when Tori whispered,

"Thanks, Jade. I mean for everything." She turned to face Tori and tilted her head slightly in confusion.

"What?"

"I'm sorry for taking Beck from you and I hope we can still be friends. Thanks for all you've done over the past couple of weeks. You've been very mature about the whole situation and you're...uh...you're..."

"I'm what?"

"You've changed. You're a friend. You are maturer in everything. Thank you."

"I'm sorry and thank you, Tori." Jade gritted her teeth, subtly. Tori opened her arms out wide and Jade gave her a hug, still gritting her teeth.

"Where's Cat and Trina?" Tori shrugged.

"Probably upstairs getting ready, they better hurry the car gets here in ten minutes." Jade began to walk up the stairs to get them when she felt a sharp pain in the back of her head, she'd been hit. The room starting spinning and fading, until it all went black...

"That should do it." Tori smiled. Jade was not going to go anywhere near Beck today. Not if she could help it. Now to move her into the closet before Cat and Trina come downstairs.

Two hours later, everyone was beginning to sit in their seats ready for the ceremony and the car was just arriving.

"Where's Jade?" Tori shook her head and smiled sadly.

"She said she couldn't come, it hurt her too badly." Cat scrunched her eyebrows together, that didn't sound like something Jade would say, especially to Tori but she went along with it. The music began to play and all the guests stood up in sync, glancing back to the door. Tori looked around, Beck was there but Andre wasn't. Oh well, less distractions. They walked down the aisle and just as Beck reached out to hold Tori's hand, the door burst open. In came Jade with her hand held to her head, holding a napkin pressed to her wound, Andre following her. Everyone looked back, expecting Jade to scream some pathetic tale against Vega, causing the wedding to stop and Beck to fall in love with her.

"Jade, are you alright?" He asked, sympathetically. She opened her mouth, ready to feed the entire story to the guests but stopped and just simply said,

"I'm fine, sorry I'm late I just banged my head and needed to go to A&E." She grinned at Tori, sarcastically and sat down next to Andre. He put her arm around her and she decided to let him keep it there. She leant her head on his shoulder and watched Beck marry her enemy but she no longer minded, she just wanted him to be happy.

Later on at the reception, they had arranged for a performance to be put on by Jade. She didn't know but she could do it. The beginning bar of "All Too Well" began to play and Jade gulped.

"I walked through the door with you

The air was cold but something 'bout it felt like home somehow and I

Left my scarf there at your sister's house

And you still got it in your drawer even now"

She carried on singing, despite the memories replaying in her brain. Beck was staring at her, the memories obviously hitting him too.

"Oh, your sweet disposition

And my wide-eyed gaze

We're singing in a car getting lost Upstate

The autumn leaves falling down like pieces into place

And I can picture it after all these days

And I know it's long gone, and that magic´s not here no more

And it might be okay, but I'm not fine at all"

Several tears began to drop down her cheeks silently, but she carried on, looking down to disguise it.

"Cause here we are again on that little town street

You almost ran the red cause you were looking over at me

Wind in my hair, I was there, I remember it all too well"

"Photo album on the counter

Your cheeks were turning red

You used to be a little kid with glasses in a twin-sized bed

And your mother's telling stories 'bout you on the t-ball team

You tell me about your past thinking your future was me"

She began to belt out the lyrics, they meant so much to her. She pressed her dress down and her knuckles turned white, gripping onto the microphone.

"And I know it's long gone, and there was nothing else I could do

And I forget about you long enough to forget why I needed to"

"Cause here we are again in the middle of the night

We're dancing round the kitchen in the refrigerator light

Down the stairs, I was there, I remember it all too well

Yeah"

The tears were flowing down her cheeks uncontrollably now and no matter how much she tried to deny it, she still loved Beck but he didn't love her.

"And maybe we got lost in translation

Maybe I asked for too much

But maybe this thing was a masterpiece

´til you tore it all up

Running scared, I was there, I remember it all too well"

She was almost screaming the lyrics now and she couldn't help it.

"Hey you called me up again just to break me like a promise

So casually cruel in the name of being honest

I'm a crumbled up piece of paper lying here

Cause I remember it all all all too well"

Her voice dropped back to a whisper, almost raspy. She looked across at Beck and stared him in the eye, watching his every move until she saw a single tear slide down his cheek unexpectedly. Was she touching him?

"Time won't fly it's like I'm paralyzed by it

I´d like to be my old self again

But I'm still trying to find it

After plaid shirt days and nights when you made me your own

Now you mail back my things and I walk home alone

But you keep my old scarf from that very first week

Cause it reminds you of innocence and it smells like me

You can't get rid of it, cause you remember it all too well Yeah"

"Cause there we are again when I loved you so

Back before you lost the one real thing you've ever known

It was rare, I was there, I remember it all too well"

"Wind in my hair, you were there, you remember it all

Down the stairs, you were there, you remember it all

It was rare, I was there, I remember it all too well"

The song finished and they were both crying their eyes out. She wanted to run over to him and hug him until the tears stopped falling. But she couldn't. He was married now. She walked off the stage and stood next to Andre.

"You alright?" Jade nodded, sniffling and wiping under her eyes.

"Want to dance?" She nodded again, taking his hand and dancing slowly around the room, along with many other couples.

"Switch couples!" The dj spoke smoothly, before I knew it I was holding onto Beck.

"Hi Jade, what happened?"

"When?" She looked down, embarrassed.

"You 'hit your head'?"

"You don't wanna know."

"I do." She shrugged, explaining how Tori had hit her over the head before placing her in the closet.

"You don't believe me, do you?"

"No, I believe you Jade." She raised her eyebrows in surprise. He believed her but why? She'd given him no reason to trust her in the past.

"You trust me?" He nodded. "I'm sorry, Beck."

"I should be the one apologising, I went out with Tori to hurt you and well..." He pointed at Tori, who was busy making out with Andre in the corner.

"I'm so sorry." Instinctively, she hugged him before pulling back. "Sorry. Habit."

"It's okay. I've missed you." She cracked a smile, which made Beck smile.

"You know when I was singing?"

"Yeah.."

"Why did you cry?" Beck looked her in the eyes.

"Because I missed you and all the memories, good and bad, came flooding back and I realised just how much I loved you and how I'd never be able to marry Tori and how I'd never be able to live without you."

"But you married Tor-"

"It was fake. Notice how we didn't need to sign anything?"

"So you're not married?" Beck shook his head. "You're not in love with Tori?" He shook his head. "You're single?" He crashed his lips against hers and she melted into his arms. She was finally home. Finally happy. Finally his.

THE END.


	6. Epilogue

Epilogue.

It was six years later, he knelt down on one knee, ring in his hand, smile on his face. He popped the question and of course she said yes. They found out several months later she was pregnant with twins, two girls. They named them Ashley and Sophia. They lived in the house on the corner, number thirteen, until she passed away, thirty years later. He grieved her for years and never really got over it. He moved up to heaven with her a few years later and upon request, was buried in the same grave as her. "Here lies Jade West and Beck Oliver. A singer and an actor, chasing their dreams until their very last breath. Forever together, until the next time." The stone read. Their story lived on through their children, how the girl had lost the boy to her enemy. They'd gotten married, but it was fake and they lived happily ever after. But it was never that easy, was it?


End file.
